“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Firstly, let me say that I will be doing a blog every week all the way through to the end of the series. It will be published every Sunday for a large regional on-line newspaper group starting from boot camp. So check out news on Twitter! @stevebrookstein
I'm not going to talk about the terrible acts as they have already wasted enough of my time. I'll crack straight on with the talent. In retrospect, this will be seen as a bad week.
Poor 16 year old, Tom Richards sang a great song, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ by The Script and Louis and Cheryl were on the money, as they liked his voice but not the performance. He sang it well but over egged it with an Olly Murs dance routine that was not appropriate. Simon wanted him to know the music he should be doing and his gap in the market. Maybe he was being harsh as the guest judge is 19-year-old Pixie Lott. She had the deciding vote and said ‘no’ before pressure from the audience and Louis helped change her mind and Tom joyously went through. Sadly, I think he is too young and not ready. He will make it as far as the judges’ houses but he would be better suited to a boy band until he discovers what he wants to be as an artist.
Katie Smith, 17, sang ‘Use Somebody’. She has a very interesting and cool look. You don’t see much of her but the judges loved her. She is one of the better singer/songwriter type vocalists that I’ve seen so far. A definite dark horse and I expect her to make the live finals.
Pretty, Lauran Francis, 18, performed a competent ‘Heard It Through The Grape Vine’ but for me she had too much vibrato. I would be extremely surprised if she went any further.
Lee Vaughan, 29-year-old pub singer with a Mohican was the token over 28 year old to make it through. Nice guy, fun and confident but no chance of the live finals.
Last year, Danyl Johnson was criticised for being an arrogant and over confident diva, though I didn’t see it in him myself. This year, the judges love Nicolo Festa, 21, who really shows some controversial traits. This is a guy you will love or hate which makes for great TV. He thinks the whole World is average and he is the chosen one. Simon loves his attitude because unlike Tom Richards who needs direction and hasn’t really an obvious place in the market, he knows what he wants and Simon sees him as the next Mika. Which is ironic as Nicolo, doesn’t like any pop music.
Personally, I think he has some nice vocals but he wasn’t that great to warrant the diva status or persona. He is a little too self obsessed for my liking, but even still, he is a cert for the finals and a probably top 3 finish.
F.Y.D – Of all the boy bands so far in this years show, these guys are best singers and most credible visually. We didn’t see much but I’m hoping to hear more.
Finally came Paije Richardson and in my opinion, the best singer of the night with the most likable character too. Ok, there was a bit of WWF about the way they put him through but he got there in the end. I was with Louis 100%. His performance of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ was good enough to see him straight through, but unexplainably Simon and Cheryl sent him packing. Luckily, Louis got him another chance to impress and after a commercial break he came back and blew everyone away with ‘A Man’s World’. It was a fantastic audition and the highlight of the show.
My Conspiracy Theory:
Something weird is going on with the group F.Y.D. the vocal mix on their performance was unbalanced making it sound worse than it was. It now turns out that one of them is a drag queen and Simon didn’t like them. I can’t help think they are going to be passed over for a band Simon makes up during boot camp or hunky man band The Reason.
My Prediction:
He may have been the best singer on the night but Paije Richardson will not make it to the live finals.
Next week is the last of the audition before they move on to boot camp. My X Factor blog is Sunday 19 September.
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